WASHINGTON — Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James responded to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who called the Senate filibuster racist:

“Sen. Warren has resorted to the tired and extremely insulting tactic of trotting out the race card when her other arguments aren’t convincing enough for the American people. It’s absolutely absurd for Sen. Warren to declare that the Senate filibuster is now racist, especially when so many of her Senate Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Cory Booker, have long supported it.
 

“In fact, the filibuster is the last line of defense against the tyranny of the majority in the Senate, and its purpose is to make laws more reflective of the entire country—not just reflective of those with temporary control of the Senate. The filibuster protects us all from the most divisive and partisan legislation from becoming law.
 

“Democrats want to eliminate the filibuster to pass HR 1—an unconstitutional federal takeover of our election system that would threaten to dilute the vote of every American, including women and minorities. It would allow more fraud and abuse into the election system and would encourage more illegal votes to cancel out legal ones.
 

“A secure and fair election system is not a threat to black voters; instead, it’s a promise to black voters and to all voters that no matter their political perspective, their votes will be counted and not canceled. HR 1 would destroy that promise—a promise that my family and so many Americans fought so hard to achieve during the civil rights movement. HR 1 doesn’t protect our right to vote; it only protects the power of Democratic politicians.”